MacPhail School of Energy

Sponsored by AltaLink, SAIT became the first Canadian post-secondary institution to have a leading-edge simulator. With this innovative technology, our Electrical Engineering Technology students develop a holistic understanding of complex power systems and simulate various realistic and real-time scenarios.

You will also gain experience modelling the management of electricity from a variety of energy sources including wind, solar, natural gas, coal and nuclear.

Comprised of four levels, the Cenovus Energy Centre was designed with industry input so it can evolve alongside technological advancements and remain relevant well into the future. When you're a Power Engineering Technology or Process and Power Operations student, you will train in a scaled-down version of a typical steam-generating facility and equipment found in industry. You’ll get to hone your skills in a wide array of equipment, giving you the chance to adapt to the varying technical landscape in industry.

The Cenovus Energy Centre is equipped with the following labs:

• Level 1: High-Pressure Steam Lab
• Level 2: Water Treatment Lab
• Level 3: Natural Gas, Internal Combustion Engine, and Air Compression Lab
• Level 4: Heating and Cooling Lab, Amine Absorption

As a Chemical Engineering Technology student, you will access labs where you'll learn about the properties of fluids and gases. You also have the opportunity to train on and operate, chemical engineering equipment found in industry so you can hit the ground running when you graduate.

Gas-Absorption Unit
This equipment is used in gas processing plants and refineries; it will teach you how to process raw natural gas to meet industry standards and specifications.

Heat Exchangers
You’ll explore the principles of heat transfer and learn about various heat exchanger designs, their performance and how to select heat exchangers for efficient energy use.

PVT Cell
Found primarily in test labs and research facilities, the PVT cell will help you develop an understanding of the physical properties of gases required to design processing facilities. You'll also learn how pressure, volume and temperature impact the phase behaviour of a gas.

Centrifugal Pump
Centrifugal pumps provide the required energy for liquids to flow through process piping and vessels. You'll learn to evaluate the performance parameters and properties of two single-stage centrifugal pumps, which assist in the design and operation of processing facilities.

Heat Loss Apparatus
You'll train on this apparatus to evaluate the effectiveness of different types of insulation and learn about the effects of colour on heat loss to assess the best pipes and insulation to use in various conditions.

Fluid Circuit Develop
an understating of operation process facilities and the principles of fluid flow through piping. You’ll also learn about the relationships between pressure loss, pipe size and fluid flow rate and how it impacts pipe design and energy consumption.

Distillation Tower
Our continuous distillation column is equipped with instrumentation and controls typical of those found in industry, allowing you to get familiar with control logic and function.

Aerial Cooler
With applications in many process industries, you'll learn about the design parameters and operating characteristics of aerial coolers and how they’re used in a wide range of industries.

Refrigeration Systems
Learn about low-temperature cooling systems used in industry and the operating principles of all the components in a typical industrial refrigeration system.

Compressors
Compressors boost the pressure of gases in a range of industrial applications such as gas transmission pipelines and refrigeration systems. You’ll gain an understanding of laboratory unit operating characteristics through a bench-top, two-stage reciprocating compressor with variable speed control.

With seven state-of-the-art labs, our Electrical Engineering Technology students train in three major areas of electrical engineering: power systems, electrical design, and control and automation. In these labs, you will have a safe and controlled environment to gain hands-on experience with equipment sponsored by industry.

Fundamental Electrical Labs
Here you’ll study the fundamentals of electrical practices, power electronics, digital electronics and electrical circuit analysis with hands-on experience using oscilloscopes, digital multimeters, motor starters and more.

Schneider Electric Labs
Rotating machines, transformers and power systems — you’ll learn all about them in this lab.

• You will study machine performance and characteristics under various load conditions using LabVolt training equipment.
• Learn about the application, safe operation and programming of VFD drives, motor soft starters, and Schneider Electric motor control centres.
• Use Fluke digital multimeters and Fluke power quality analyzers to perform tests on various sized transformers. Examine power systems using SEL (Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories) protective relays, ISA T1000 test sets, and software including ETAP and AcSELerator relay-assistant software.

Rockwell PLC Lab
In this lab, you will learn programmable logic controller (PLC) Contrologix applications and become familiar with the Allen-Bradley PanelView Plus operator-interface terminal using Rockwell FactoryTalk View Studio software.

Schneider Electric PLC Lab
This lab will get you familiar with premium Unity Pro applications by developing a project using basic instructions for the Schneider Electric Unity Pro system.

PC Lab
Computer programs are used to help you understand the fundamentals of circuit design and electrical design. We use Multisim to teach you how to design and simulate electrical circuits. You’ll also learn AutoCAD and AutoCAD Electrical software so you can create and draw electrical designs. Finally, we use Luxicon software to teach you the basics of lighting design.

Each day, the oil and gas sector deals with environmental issues concerning air quality and greenhouse gas emissions, deregulation of industry standards and practices, consumer advocacy groups and achieving voluntary challenge goals. To address these issues, companies must have skilled environmental technical specialists to navigate and respond to these demands.

The Encana Environmental Technology Centre offers environmental training programs to industry needs and provides our Environmental Technology students with a solid foundation in environmental work, both in field operations and in the lab. It also gives those working in industry a chance to upgrade and expand their current enviro-tch skills using innovative environmental technology.

Equipped with a one-of-a-kind drilling simulator, you’ll have a chance to use advanced software and 3D graphics to create immersive visualizations of downhole drilling dynamics as part of our Bachelor of Applied Technology Petroleum Engineering and Petroleum Engineering Technology programs. You can also train on another prominent component, a Digital CTS 5000 Coil Tubing simulator that allows students to apply their knowledge to situations they will experience in industry. This and other innovative training equipment allow us to run alongside industry as new technologies emerge, helping to ensure a steady stream of tech-savvy graduates who are well versed in the most current oil sands and SAGD processes.

The Mathison Drilling and Geoscience Lab Suite includes a drilling simulator, a coil tubing simulator and more production-related equipment.

Used by MacPhail School of Energy students across multiple programs, as well as many of our industrial clients, the Rance Fisher Wellsite Production Education Centre is a state-of-the-art training facility.

In addition to extensive drilling, service, processing and control equipment, the Wellsite is also home to a modern 37-seat classroom where you will learn about all aspects of wellsite production and best practices.

This centre of excellence integrates labs and workshops for our Instrumentation Engineering Technology students to ensure you receive a world-class educational experience. You’ll have a chance to apply the knowledge you gain to cutting-edge smart instrumentation and control systems, networked & wireless communications, and advanced optimization software to help meet industries' toughest automation challenges.

Distributed Control System Lab
When you train in this lab, you’ll get a hands-on introduction to some of the communication techniques used by devices in the industry. You will learn to configure and analyze modular control strategies and software applications using leading DCS technology and, in more advanced courses, to design an operator interface to monitor and control simulated process operations.

Analyzer Lab
In this lab, you’ll have access to a dedicated space to test instruments that measure parameters like humidity, turbidity and gas composition that influence product quality in many industrial processes.

Instrumentation Workshop
Here you have the opportunity to hone your maintenance skills using specialized hand tools and power equipment.

Process Lab
This lab is outfitted with two new advanced compressor control training systems. These systems make use of patented Alberta technology that will teach you strategies to help achieve greater fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.

Endress + Hauser Instrumentation Engineering Technology Process Lab
Equipped with the latest flow and interface measurement technologies as well as guided-wave radar instruments and nuclear density profiling systems, you’ll learn about the fundamentals of flow and measurement in this lab.